PCR Five for Friday (11/08/2017)

Five for Friday is a weekly feature to give a brief roundup of our top five stories from the week that you might have missed. Think we left anything out? Let us know your favourite stories of the week by pinging us a tweet @pcr_online.

Home security is set to lead the way in the smart home revolution. A new survey by OnePoll has revealed that security is the top priority for UK homeowners looking to invest in smart technology. A total of 37 per cent of those surveyed said that they would invest in smart security systems if money was no object. This is considerably higher than interest in other smart markets, with only 12 per cent of the UK population interested in virtual assistants, 18 per cent keen on robot lawnmowers and 29 per cent eyeing up a smart thermostat.

Following on from announcing an exclusive deal with HTC for its Vive VR platform, UK based distributor Westcoast has signed UK distribution deals with three giants in the gaming market: MSI, Gigabyte and SteelSeries.

Gaming laptop manufacturers MSI and Gigabyte and peripherals expert SteelSeries have selected Westcoast as their preferred distribution partner for the UK market, further strengthening the company’s standing in the gaming sector.

After a torrid year, Toshiba has finally been offered a glimmer of hope. With talks underway with auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata (PwC), Toshiba is now hopeful that the firm will not be delisted.

Toshiba is now quietly confident that it will gain a partial endorsement from its auditor for its annual financial results, reducing the risk of losing its listed company status. Toshiba has been threatened with being delisted since it dropped out of the Nikkei 225 for the first time in its history. The prospect of being delisted has stalled a prospective sale of its valuable chip business.

Almost half of companies are putting off investing in tech for sales teams because of cost concerns.

A new report fom CITE Research has found that 48 per cent businesses are reluctant to spend money on new tech over fears of how it will affect the bottom line. In spite of that, 63 per cent of UK firms spend at least £1,200 on technology annually per sales representative to equip them with the right tools to do their jobs effectively – including smart phones, laptops, CRM systems and web meeting platforms. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of respondents said they spend at least £2,400 per sales employee.